Chapter 102: chapter 102

N A N D I N IThe moment I saw her, standing at the gates of the palace like a queen, my blood boiled. The cheers, the laughter, the adoration of the court—it all fed into her sense of superiority. She stood there, radiant in her pregnant glory, and my heart twisted with a dark, unrelenting fury. Sanmayi—always the golden child, always the one who had everything. She thought she had won. She thought she was untouchable. But she was wrong.I was wrong, too. Once, when I was a child, I thought that by poisoning her—by ridding the world of her—I would be free. Free to take my rightful place as the beloved niece of my mother’s sister, the favored one. But fate, as it always does, twisted my hand. It was my own dear aunt Vaijayanti who drank that poisoned kheer instead of Sanmayi. She died in her prime, leaving me to inherit a broken family, a shattered legacy, and a kingdom in turmoil.It should have been Sanmayi’s fault. But it wasn’t. No, it was mine.Now, all these years later, that same girl—now a woman—was rising to claim everything that should have been mine. She was the mother of the next heir to the throne, and I—Nandini, the daughter of the queen’s older sister—was nothing but a shadow. I had waited for this moment, waited for the right time to strike, and now, here she was again, the center of attention, the one everyone loved and adored, while I was relegated to the margins of the palace.I could not let this child be born. Not for the sake of my own personal gain, but for the sake of my sanity. I needed to destroy her before she could destroy me—before her child grew to claim what was mine. I had to do something—anything—to stop the birth of her child. The heir of Amaravati could not be her son. It could not be someone whose very existence was a reminder of everything I had lost.I lay awake in my chambers that night, staring at the ceiling, the memories of my childhood swirling in my mind. I could see her face even then, her innocent smile as she danced about, drawing attention with her beauty, her grace. How it irked me! How it gnawed at my insides to see her steal the affection of our family, to see her be the perfect daughter when I, I who was born of greater lineage, could never seem to win anyone’s favor.I had wanted to poison her. I thought I would never be free of her dominance. But fate, cruel and unjust, had a different plan.Now, I watched as she basked in the adoration of her people and her king. Sanmayi had everything—power, respect, and soon, a child to secure her place in the world. I would never allow her to take everything that should have been mine. Not again.I had learned patience, the art of waiting for the right moment. And the moment would come, soon. It would be her downfall, and this time, I would not fail.I could hear footsteps outside my chamber door, and I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes. No one would know how broken I felt. Not anymore. Not when the world was watching, not when they expected me to be a queen in my own right. I had already failed so many times, but not this time.I would make sure her child was never born. That was the only way to destroy her. And once her child was gone, she would crumble. And I would be the one who would rise from the ashes of this broken family. I would be the one to claim my rightful place.But this time, I would be more careful. I wouldn’t fail again.---S A N M A Y I It’s strange, how you can be surrounded by people, your husband by your side, and yet feel like something is missing. For all the celebration, for all the joy, there was a sense of unease that crept into my heart at night. I had been feeling it for days—an inexplicable anxiety that weighed on my chest like an iron shackle. Perhaps it was the burden of my position, the expectation that came with my growing influence and the child I carried. Or perhaps it was something more.I looked down at my hands, resting on the small swell of my stomach. My child. My future. It was all I had ever wanted—to build a life with Ranajay, to raise a child in peace, and to secure the kingdom’s future. Yet, despite all the good, the love, and the victories we had achieved, something was amiss. There were whispers. The cold, calculating gaze of Nandini, always watching me, her eyes burning with a resentment I could not fully understand.Ranajay had been away on official matters for a while, and I had taken up the responsibility of running the kingdom in his stead. I’d done it before—led armies, made decisions, fought battles—but this was different. This time, it was personal. I could feel the weight of my actions, of the choices I made. If I failed now, if I let anything happen to my child, everything I had worked for would be undone. And Nandini knew this.She had never been kind to me. It was never outright, of course. Her bitterness was always subtle, hidden beneath layers of politeness and calculated charm. But I knew her. And I had always known that beneath that mask of civility, there lay a woman consumed with envy, with jealousy. I had learned this early, during our childhood days. Nandini had been the older one, the one who expected to be adored. But it was I who became the favored one, the one who was praised, the one who was loved.The jealousy in her eyes had always been present, though it had taken many years to fully comprehend the depths of it. She had never forgiven me for overshadowing her. I had taken my place as the queen’s niece, a role that should have been hers. She hated me for it, and over the years, that hatred had festered into something darker.I could feel her scheming now, just as I had before. The way she would look at me, the venom hidden in the curve of her lips, it made my skin crawl. I couldn’t ignore it anymore. There was something brewing in her mind, something dangerous, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but I could sense it.Ranajay’s return had brought joy to the palace, to the kingdom, and to me, but it had also brought with it a renewed sense of caution. Nandini had always been a master of playing the long game, and I had no doubt she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. She would never accept that I had everything she had always wanted—love, power, a family.And now, with my pregnancy, she would see it as the final insult.I wanted to believe that I could protect my child, that nothing would stand in the way of our happiness. But as I gazed out of the window, I saw Nandini’s figure moving through the palace grounds, her expression unreadable. And in that moment, I knew—the battle was far from over.I had defeated her before, and I would do it again. But this time, I had more to lose.---Third Person The two women, bound by blood, rivalry, and jealousy, would soon find themselves on a collision course. One was fueled by resentment, the other by a love that would move mountains. But in the end, only one would prevail.